Not everyone took the morning off to watch the proceedings—
but even in the capital’s busiest workplaces,
the Comey testimony bumped everything else from the agenda.
Hawaii Senator Mazie Hirono is a member of the Judiciary Committee
and former member of Senate Intel.
She spent the morning watching closely,
flanked by aides pointing out the biggest developments from the hearing.
— I was gonna say, it does sound like he’s talking
more about this broader issue of Russian involvement and…
— Yes, let’s not lose sight of that.
That’s what led us to this point.
But the obstruction part is very much a part of the totality
of what we need to get to the bottom of.
— The hearing was, in some ways, about Comey’s own behavior.
He admitted he leaked memos about his unsettling interactions with Trump to the press
to push the investigation towards a special counsel.
For his part, Comey tried to stay elevated and make the hearing about the threat to democracy:
— They’re coming after America, which I hope we all love equally.
They want to undermine our credibility in the face the world.
They think that this great experiment of ours is a threat to them,
and so they’re gonna try to run it down and dirty it up as much as possible.
That’s what this is about and they will be back.
— But inevitably, today was ultimately about President Trump.
And one of the biggest moments Hirono noticed—
along with probably everyone else who was watching—
was Comey calling the President a liar:
— And although the law required no reason at all to fire an FBI Director,
the administration then chose to defame me
and, more importantly, the FBI,
by saying that the organization was in disarray,
that the workforce had lost confidence in its leader.
Those were lies, plain and simple.
And I am so sorry that the FBI workforce had to hear them,
and I’m so sorry that the American people were told them.
— Those were strong words.
— Yes.
I noted that, because
it’s not often that somebody just comes out and says, “That's a lie.”
And that it really is a lie.
— What do you make of that?
That’s why I said it sounded like a guy that's really angry with President Trump.
— What came across to me was here’s a guy who really was doing his best
and he believes in the independence of the FBI
and how important it is for the FBI to be independent
of any pressure from the President or anybody else.
That came across really clear to me.
— I was honestly concerned that he might lie about the nature of our meeting,
and so I thought it really important to document.
— A major concern I have with President Trump is, in my view,
his lack of what we would consider values—
the value of truth telling,
the value of understanding that, in our democracy,
a freedom of the press is an important part of our democracy,
the value that the judiciary should be independent.
So those are all, to me, fundamental American values,
and what President Trump does is...
just not pay attention to any of those kinds of values.
And I think that, if we’re not a country of values,
what are we?
— Not much surprised her out of the hearing.
But she understood why Comey was careful with his words in interactions like this:
— Now, you told Senator Warner that the President
was looking to, quote, “get something.”
Looking back, did that dinner suggest that
your job might be contingent on how you handled the investigation?
— I don’t know that I’d go that far.
I—I got the sense my job would be contingent upon... how he felt I—
excuse me—how he felt I conducted myself,
and whether I demonstrated loyalty.
But I don’t know whether I’d go so far as to connect it to the investigation.
— Ultimately,
the decision on whether anyone broke the law
isn’t really hers or Comey’s to make.
But personally?
The former lawyer was convinced:
— You have a law background.
Your evaluation—do you think it's obstruction of justice right now?
— I think there is enough there that one could conclude
that there was an obstruction of justice.
But again, you know, the lawyer in me says
these are not the kind of legal conclusions that you want to be batting around.
But I say there’s enough there.
And also, that the idea of abuse of power.
Even if it’s short of a legal obstruction of justice.
— Do you think the American people should distrust the President now?
— I think they pretty much get that…
that... he lies, is it.
To put it very bluntly.